One year after wuhan, the city where the COVID-19 pandemic first broke out, life in the city has largely returned to normal. But the scars left by the epidemic are still palpable. This is the focus of a lengthy report in Le Figaro.
As the anniversary of the arrival of the first patients in Wuhan for treatment approaches, the coronavirus appears to have become a nightmare at a center where a pandemic has infected more than 50,000 people and killed 3,869, the newspaper said. The grounding that had deprived the local population of their freedom for 76 days seemed a long way off. The phrase “Today’s Wuhan is the safest city in the world” is repeated over and over again.
Wuhan’s museums and tourist attractions continue to attract large numbers of tourists. Traffic jams are once again on the main streets and the main train station, which was once empty because of the closure, is once again full of people. Shopping malls were packed, and restaurants and bars were packed without limits. Entertainment venues offering live music, rap, hip-hop, electronic dance music and indoor performances have been packed since they reopened in June, a phenomenon not common before the pandemic. This shows that after the grounding, there is a keen desire to relax and forget the ordeal as soon as possible.
The Wuhan International Convention and Exhibition Center, which was once used as a temporary hospital for treating patients with mild diseases during the pandemic, was flooded with visitors. The words “people first, life first” were displayed on the large screen of the center. The exhibition is dominated by images, and the visitors looking forward convey a positive message, telling stories of the sacrifice of the medical staff, the perseverance of wuhan residents and, above all, the wisdom of Chinese nationalist Xi Jinping and the leadership of the Communist Party of China. Visitors are mainly composed of schoolchildren and staff of official agencies.
In an unremarkable exhibition room, portraits of the medical workers who died in the crisis received heroic salutes. Among them was a photo of Dr. Lee Wen-leong, who was reprimanded by the police for forwarding the novel Coronavirus message to a friend or friend. But there is no disclosure of Dr. Li’s experience, no reference to the chaos of the first weeks of the crisis and the mistakes made by the authorities in the early stages of the pandemic, and no explanation as to why international experts have not been able to investigate the source of the virus.
Le Figaro pointed out that, despite the normal appearance of Wuhan today, the scars left by the pandemic are visible, as are the tombs in the Cemetery at Bian Dan Mountain. And like all wounds that have just healed: reach out and touch, and it still hurts, much of it on the economic level. The first is the poorest, the migrants from the countryside. What’s more, there are those invisible scars. Physical discomfort caused by months of accumulated stress. Many fear that a second wave will follow in the winter, and some former patients talk about the after-effects: they still feel very tired, with difficulty walking and breathing. There are also those who are under great mental pressure because they have been ill, deeply self-condemned, and worried about being rejected by their neighbors…
Le Figaro pointed out that up to now, the Chinese government has always denied that Wuhan is the origin of the pandemic. For the past three months, Beijing has said persistently that the virus first appeared abroad, in Europe or in India. State media have reported numerous disclosures by scientists indicating that novel Coronavirus has spread in Europe much earlier than previously thought. The customs stepped up testing after traces of a novel Coronavirus were found on the packaging of frozen food imported from abroad, alleging that the products had the potential to transmit viruses.
Plans by a WHO international mission to investigate the source of the virus in the southern market of Wuhan and elsewhere have not been approved by Beijing. However, WHO experts say it will take years to determine the source of the pandemic, even if a mission can go ahead.
It will also take years for Wuhan to overcome the economic, physical and psychological damage caused by the epidemic, the report said. Some people never even get rid of their scars. The black tombstones and the faces of the many who died prematurely are the best examples.
Recent Comments